Emergency/disaster situations are forever arising that require the implementation of response missions utilizing both specialized and commonplace equipment such as the "jaws of life", cutting torches, saws of various types, grinders, impact wrenches, etc., to resolve the situation. Such situations may include rescue and/or recovery operations involving downed aircraft, wrecked vehicles such as cars, trucks, buses, trains, disabled ships or boats, collapsed structures such as bridges, buildings, power lines, etc., as well as other disasters that may arise from natural phenomena such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, thunderstorms, high winds, etc.
The successful resolution of such response missions may be enhanced by the use of equipment that is power driven, e.g., electrical, pneumatic, and/or hydraulic actuated equipment. The effectuation of a response mission with a full complement of such power actuated equipment and the associated power supply generally entails the use of a transport-type ground vehicle such as a utility truck, van, flatbed trailer, etc, due to the overall weight and volume of the mission equipment.
It will be appreciated, however, that many emergency/disaster situations occur in locations that are remote and/or inaccessible or which are made inaccessible by the nature of the emergency or disaster. The inaccessibility and/or remoteness of such locations may severely impede (or totally preclude) the effectuation of suitably equipped response missions utilizing most types of ground vehicles. Thus, the inaccessibility and/or remoteness of such emergency/disaster locations may necessitate the implementation of response missions that are less than optimally equipped to respond to the situation if relying on ground transport. Moreover, the very nature of emergency/disaster situations generally requires that response missions be effectuated in minimum time. Equipment laden ground vehicles do not generally provide fast mission response times.
The foregoing factors militate against the use of ground vehicles as a means for responding to many emergency/disaster situations. Instead, there is a growing tendency to utilize airborne means to respond to such situations. While winged aircraft have the capability of very fast response times and the ability to access most inaccessible and/or remote locations (by overflying such locations), deployment (as well as recovery) of mission equipment and/or supplies is problematic. Winged aircraft may deploy emergency/disaster mission equipment and/or supplies by gravity and/or parachute drops, both methods being inherently unsuitable means for deployment of such loads. Gravity drops subject equipment and/or supplies to landing shocks and consequential damage while parachute drops are an inaccurate means of deploying equipment and/or supplies to a predetermined location.
Helicopters, in contrast, are well-suited for response missions to emergency/disaster situations due to their flight characteristics. Most helicopters have a load carrying capability that is sufficient to transport a full complement of power actuated mission equipment and any associated power source, and have relatively fast response times. More importantly, helicopters can readily access disaster locations which are remote and/or inaccessible to ground transport. Specifically, helicopters have the capability to maintain a hover flight mode over such disaster locations to deploy mission equipment as well as the capability to land mission equipment in confined areas. To date, the load carrying capability of helicopters, however, has not been optimally developed to fully utilize the unique flight characteristics of helicopters for emergency mission profiles.
Helicopters may transport loads either externally or internally. External loads may be transported on fixed stores stations (of the type utilized for missiles, bombs, or auxiliary fuel tanks) or by means of a cargo hook suspended beneath the helicopter along the centerline thereof. Each of these transport means, however, is limited in certain respects such that the advantages available from a helicopter are not fully exploited. External loads may be either gravity dropped from the stores station or off-loaded from a landed helicopter.
Equipment that is gravity dropped from a hovering helicopter will be subjected to landing shocks, although usually not to the extent experienced in drops from winged aircraft. Furthermore, there is no provision for recovering gravity dropped equipment. Equipment off-loading from the stores station of a landed helicopter generally requires ground support equipment due to the heavy nature of the equipment (initial up-loading also requires such ground support equipment) and such equipment will not generally be available at a disaster location. Moreover, the disaster location may not be suitable for landing even a helicopter.
Equipment transported by means of a suspended cargo hook must be on-loaded and off-loaded while the helicopter is in a hover flight mode due to the fixed length of the cargo hook sling. Rotor assembly downwash creates a certain hazard for personnel on-loading and/or off-loading the equipment. Moreover, the helicopter is restricted to one hover altitude during such operations which may increase pilot workload or limit the capability of the helicopter to off-load. In addition, the equipment suspended from the cargo hook severely limits the flight envelope of the helicopter such that the full flight characteristics of the helicopter may not be utilized to fly mission profiles. There is also a danger of injury from static electrical discharge to personnel off-loading equipment from a hovering helicopter.
Helicopters may also transport loads internally, although the volume and/or weight of equipment and/or supply loads that may be transported internally is limited by helicopter cabin volume and the number of mission personnel that must be concomitantly transported. Internally transported loads may be off-loaded either from a landed helicopter or from a helicopter in the hover flight mode utilizing a door mounted winching system. Off-loading equipment from a landed helicopter is a time consuming and labor intensive operation, and needlessly idles the helicopter during such off-loading operations. Moreover, the disaster location may not be suitable for landing even a helicopter.
Current winching systems do not have the capability to handle heavy loads (design capability of about 600 pounds), and therefore must incrementally off-load mission equipment and/or supplies, which is a time consuming procedure and unnecessarily ties up the helicopter and which may increase pilot workload (to maintain hover flight conditions). The winching procedure calls for individual loads to be attached to the winching system in the helicopter cabin, swung out to an external position clear of the helicopter, and then winched down to the ground. Increases in size, weight, and/or volume of the individual items comprising the load makes the procedure more laborious and time consuming. Furthermore, current winching systems employ an electric fail-safe brake to control load down winching that has a tendency to burn out from extensive use. In addition, winched loads are not stabilized for oscillatory and/or twisting movements, and may be subjected to the static charge buildup of the hovering helicopter.
Many of the considerations described in the preceding paragraphs are also relevant to the utilization of the operational capabilities provided by helicopters to efficiently deploy independently operable equipment pods in construction and/or demolition mission profiles, especially in combat environments. Typical combat mission profiles include both combat construction and combat demolition. Due to the potentially hazardous nature of such mission profiles, it is imperative that the helicopter have the capability to utilize its entire flight envelope, including nap-of-the-earth flight operations and that the equipment pod be efficiently and expeditiously deployed and/or recovered.
A need exists for a mission equipment system that is structurally and functionally compatible for use with a helicopter. The mission equipment system should be designed and configured to exploit the full flight capabilities provided by helicopters. The mission equipment package system should have the capability to deploy a full complement of mission equipment and any associated power source(s) and/or supplies utilizing either the hover flight mode or when landed.